Hateful Ballad
by 18 Doses
Summary: [ShikaInoHidan] It wasn’t like in those zombie stories, where the dead claw their way out of a grave. It was much more graceful and yet horrifying, and they all suffered because of it. [a series of short chapters to a dreadful tale]
1. Prologue: Awakening

**Pairing(s): **Hidan and Ino, Ino and Shikamaru

**Summary: **[HidanInoShika It wasn't like in those zombie stories, where the dead claw their way out of a grave. It was much more graceful and yet horrifying, and they all suffered because of it.

**Warnings: **Gore, rape, smut, language, ect…

**Note: **Well, you all need to know a few things before you read this fic. One, the updates may not come along quickly since I'm a college student and all. Two, the story is going to be very descriptive and perhaps horrifying at times, so it's not for little kiddies. Three, I love reviews; they're my motivation for writing. Four, critique is welcome but flames are not. Five, the POV will be of all Hidan, Ino, and Shikamaru. Six, It's going to be written in Third Person. And seven, there will be sex in this, and not all of it consensual.

_**To avoid being banned, I've decided to post the 'sexual' scenes over at my LJ. It will be this way for all of my fics, from now on. So if you want them, the link is in my profile. There are none yet, and I'll let you know when I post one up.**_

_**I edited this chapter, by the way. Nothing big, just the removal a few adjectives.**_

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**Hateful Ballad**

_By 18 Doses_

**Prologue - **Awakening

The leaves rustled, blowing up into the wind. Red, orange, brown, and green; they trailed up, swirling around in the sky. He watched with glazed eyes, clenching the piece of silver in his hand. The last of the dirt, clumped and cold, fell from his knee. The sound of it meeting with mud echoed through his head, causing him to cringe. Just the sound of earth was enough to gag him. He'd been surrounded by it for so long. So long.

He chuckled to himself, running a hand through his greasy, stiff hair. He wasn't even sure how long he'd been trapped. Seeing the light of day was like heaven to him. He was most grateful to the children that had dug him up, and had thanked them more than once after he'd 'woken up' in their so called laboratory. Little scientists. It warmed his heart that they'd even thought enough to sew him back together. What they had planned to do with him, though, he wasn't sure.

"It's fucking cold," he said to himself, scratching at his neck. The sewing was poorly done, but it was better than being in pieces beneath ground with only the butt of a cigarette to keep him company. Though he did wish they would have gotten his wrist a bit straighter. Ah well. "Beggars can't be choosers," he mumbled, giving a heavy sigh.

He walked forward, wincing at the stiffness in his joints. He was sore all over; felt like someone had numbed his feet, though. He hoped that would wear off, because it was making it very difficult to walk back to what was once him home.

The woods were silent aside from the sound of the leaves. He hated the sound of their rustling. Even more so, he hated the very sight of _leaves_. Stepping on one, he crushed it, grounding his foot until the crackling stopped. He walked forward and looked back over his shoulder, smirking at the sight of his work. He could think of quite a few leaves that he wanted to crush, but he doubted they would turn to ash. No, they would bleed, and he would make sure of it.

He stepped through a cluster of bushes and his face hardened at the sight before him, the large gaping hole. It made his stomach churn to even set foot near it now, but he really had no choice, seeing as his weapon was still down there. It was either get it or create a new one, and he wasn't so sure he wanted to part with the original.

Coughing into his hand, he lowered himself down, dangling his legs into the hole. It reeked. Scrunching up his nose, he leapt into the hole. When his feet thumped on the bottom, he froze, his breath caught in his throat. It brought back such horrible memories.

Shaking himself, he knelt down and began digging through the mud. Throwing aside clump after clump, he finally reached his goal. The feeling of hard steel made him chuckle.

So, his scythe had survived after all this time, as well.

He licked his lips as he began to pull the staff like weapon from the earth, standing to his feet little by little.

"There's my baby," he chuckled, spinning the scythe in his hands as he stood in the hole, looking up at the filthy blade. How wonderful it felt to feel alive again. For a while, he had thought for sure he was dead, that maybe that was what death felt like; that he must have died in his sleep, buried, or something, unaware. But no, he was alive and well. He chuckled, and slowly his laughter began to escalade into that of a mad man.

Alive after all of this time! He couldn't wait to see the look on that punk's face. He bet that cigarette would fall out of his mouth and burn his goddamned foot.

"And he'll be fucked then," he said to himself, "Oh yeah…"


	2. Prowler’s Shadow in the Moonlight

_Note: __**To avoid being banned, I've decided to post the 'sexual' scenes over at my LJ. It will be this way for all of my fics, from now on. So if you want them, the link is in my profile. So far, there are not any for this fic. I'll let you know when I post one. You'll be able to tell when there is likely a 'scene' of sex, anyway. **_

And guys, the end of this chapter goes SO good with the "Friday the 13th" theme music! Lmao. Ch ch ch ch, ha ha ha ha. ::giggles::

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**Chapter One – **Prowler's Shadow in the Moonlight

It was growing very late. Ino looked to the treetops and sighed as the sun continued to lower itself. As usual, she and Shikamaru had lost track of time during their study session.

Shifting through the contents of her backpack, she knitted her brow and pulled out a small sheet of paper. After fixing the pack back in place, she unfolded the paper and gave it a once over. Sakura was going to be furious with her once she managed to make it over to the arena. The whole time that she had been listening to Shikamaru, she had thought for sure that the meeting time was around six, when, in fact, it was noon. Sighing, she tucked the paper into her top and began her trot to the meeting, which she figured had ended long ago. Sakura would be pissed, and Shikamaru would be aggravated if he were to find out, which he would. There was no getting around it.

She made it through the streets quickly enough, having to run the rooftops for the last five minutes. Once she finally made it, Ino looked up to the entrance of the arena and frowned. She could still sense small bouts of chakra coming from inside, but nowhere near enough to believe that the ANBU testing was still in progress. Naruto had most likely ended it around four.

Ino pouted and trudged through the entrance, just to make sure. Sure enough, the only two still waiting were Sakura and Rock Lee. They seemed to be in the middle of packing up their belongings. Ino bit her lip when the bushy-browed shinobi glanced her way and waved. Sakura turned, too, and frowned, crossing her arms.

"Ino!" Rock Lee called over as she approached. "You are too late, the testing has already ended."

"She knows that, Lee," Sakura sighed.

Rolling her eyes, Ino put her hands on her hips, and awaited what she knew was coming.

"Where the heck were you, anyway, Ino?" Sakura griped, sitting down to finish stuffing things into her knapsack. "We talked Naruto into postponing the test for a whole hour, just to wait for you. He's pretty mad, you know. Well, as mad as Naruto can get. I'm the one you should be worried about. You promised to show up for this with me!"

"Now, Sakura," Lee said level-headedly, "let us not yell. I am sure Ino has her reasons for not coming. Perhaps if you gave her the chance to explain—"

"Explain, my ass. I'll bet she's just full of excuses," Sakura mumbled. "What happened?"

Clearing her throat, Ino wondered if she should even bother. It was her own damned business if she didn't show up, and why she hadn't for that matter. Huffing, she flipped her pony-tail behind her shoulder, and said, "Well, Sakura, not that it's your business, but I was caught up in something. Plus, I had the time mixed up with Choji's eating competition." She crossed her arms, asking the salmon haired woman if she was satisfied.

Sakura exhaled heavily and placed the bag on top of her legs just before grabbing Lee's hand and standing up. She softened her brow and shrugged.

"Well," Lee said, "it could happen to anyone, Ino. I am sure Sakura understands. Right, Sakura?" Raising his large brows at the woman to his right, Lee flashed a smile.

Laughing at his ridiculousness, Sakura placed the backpack over her shoulder and rolled her eyes at Ino. "Okay, okay," she said, "you're forgiven. But aren't you just a little upset about missing it?"

Was she! Ino hummed in the back of her throat and walked with the two out of the arena. Once out, she and Sakura waved goodbye to Lee and began their walk towards home.

"I am, you know," Ino said.

"Hm?"

"Upset." The blonde woman stopped walking and put a hand on her hip. She watched as Sakura stopped a few steps ahead and looked back, cocking her head to the side. "But Shikamaru's the one who's going to gripe about it more than me," Ino finished.

Sakura chuckled. "Yeah, you had to beg him to help you out with a few things to get ready. I'll bet he whines about you wasting his time."

"You know it," Ino laughed. "But what time did I waste, anyway? It's not like he had anything better to do beside teach that class."

"He's still on suspension?"

"Yeah. Poor guy. Not that he cares," Ino said, looking ahead at the village. "He says he likes it better than going on _troublesome_ missions, anyway. Who's to say, I'll bet he sticks with teaching even after Lord Hokage lets up on him." She pointed to a near by restaurant. "You wanna go get something to eat? I'm starved. Shikamaru's too lazy to go to the store. All he has at his house are cheese crackers and coffee."

Sakura nodded and turned around, going over to the Crab Shack. Ino caught up with her as they entered, and picked out a table near the windows. She waved over a waiter and ordered for the both of them, and then looked back to Sakura and grinned casually.

The two of them had made up long ago. It had been so many years since the Sasuke incident, and they were both matured women, now. That wasn't to say that they didn't have their squabbles, however, for the most part they were the best of friends. They even shared an apartment together. It was too bad that Sakura was moving out soon, though, Ino thought. She would actually kinda miss her.

"So," Sakura began, "have you heard the recent news?"

"About what?"

Sakura shifted in her seat, making herself comfortable, and then went on to tell Ino of what se had heard being whispered around the hospital for the last few days.

"And Lady Tsunade sent a group out to see what happened," Sakura said, finishing the story. "It was pretty gruesome, from what I hear."

"That's awful!" Ino made a face of disgust. "Do they have any idea who might have killed them?"

"Slaughtered them, is more like it. But no, they don't. There was this one thing, though."

They both stopped talking to gather their plates from the waiter. Ino took a sip from her drink and waited for Sakura to finish inspecting her meal. The other woman waved the server off and then turned her attention back to their conversation.

"A huge hole had been dug up about a mile from where those kids had been hiding out," Sakura said. She took a bite of her food. Chugging her tea, she looked out the window. She sat down the half-empty glass and wiped her mouth with a napkin. "I guess I was thirstier than I thought," she commented when Ino arched a brow. "Anyway, Kakashi spoke with the boys' parents shortly after they identified them at the morgue. He was telling me about how the kids had run away; each of them left their parents a note that they were going treasure hunting."

"What does he make of it all?" Ino asked. She stirred the lemon that had sunken to the bottom of her glass, her brow knitted in thought.

"He says that he thinks whatever 'treasure' they found has something to do with it."

Ino stopped stirring and took another sip. After taking a few bites of their food, the two women looked back up and continued to talk. It was a while later before Sakura yelped as she looked out of the window, startling Ino with the suddenness. It had been so pleasant, and then she had squealed. Ino had spilt her lemon-water.

"What? What is it?" Ino asked, looking worried as she dried herself off. She was also a bit annoyed, but thought to overlook it since Sakura was suddenly so panicked.

"Oh my god," Sakura mumbled, getting money from her pocket. She slapped down her side of the bill and tip, and then stood from the table. "I'm so sorry, Ino," she said, "but I've got to hurry. I didn't realize it was so late! It promised someone I would meet them for a last minute spar. I'll see you later." Without waiting for a reply, she rushed for the door, calling out for Ino not to wait up over her shoulder.

Ino could not help but laugh as she watched Sakura run off from the window. It was so obvious who her friend was going to meet. A last minute sparring session…sure. Paying her own side of the check and tip, she stood and made her way out into the night.

It was very late. The moon was still low in the sky, and Ino figured that it was around seven or eight, since Autumn tended to bring earlier nights. They had gotten lost in the conversation of zombies. Ino chuckled, now, as she began to walk home. It was amusing, and they had only been kidding. Zombies weren't real. However, the idea that the three boys had dug something up just before they died was somewhat asking for jokes of that sort. Not that it was a laughing matter. She felt sort of bad now that she thought about it. Plus, alone in the darkness, she felt a bit uneasy.

Of course, zombies were not real. What nonsense was she thinking? It was somewhat creepy, though.

The shinobi that had been dispersed to examine the area had not found anything that the boys could possibly have dug up. They were assuming that there had been nothing in the hole; the boys' were most likely playing around, just as their run-away letters had stated. Treasure hunting. Kakashi apparently wasn't falling for that one, and Ino wonder why. It seemed reasonable to her.

Besides, what could they have dug up that was deadly?

Shaking her thoughts, she stepped up to the apartment and began to dig through her backpack for her keys. She found them and fingered through for the right one. A sudden yowling sound caused her to jump and gasp. Scowling, she bent to pick the keys back up. She exhaled in annoyance and began to look for the right key again.

A flash of black moved just off to the right, and she jerked her head up. Ino scanned the area that it had come from. Deciding it probably was the animal that had scared her, she went back to searching for the key. She found it, but not before the flash of black reversed direction. Ino spun around, gripping her keys. Nothing.

"God, look at me," she said to herself, quickly letting herself into the apartment. "I'm acting like a child."

Setting the keys onto the mantel, she flicked on the living-room light and walked into the bathroom. She left the door open since no one was home, and brushed her teeth and readied for bed. She finished and then, once walking through the hall to her room, she flicked the switch to turn the living-room light back off, and the one to her bedroom on.

Ino liked the layout of their apartment. Each room, including the hall, was very spacious, not to mention that each room also had a set of light switches that controlled every room. It was a nice thing to have those switches when one was paranoid.

Closing her bedroom door behind her out of habit, Ino began to undress as she walked over to the nightstand. She tossed her purple outfit into the hamper and then sat down on her stool. Bending down, she took off her fishnets and other items. Placing them on the nightstand, she lifted up, planning to let down and brush out her hair.

Ino screamed.

A man had flashed in her mirror, she was positive! Heart racing and breathing labored, she stood, griping the kunai that had been resting beside of her makeup. She spun around. Her back bumped the oak, and she yelped, and then scolded herself. Looking around, she deduced that no one was in her room. Oh how silly that she felt. Her imagination was getting to her.

Calming down for the most part, she quickly let her hair down and hurried to dress into her nighty. Once she was ready, aside from brushing her hair, which she chose not to do, Ino took a dive for the covers. She bundled up and closed her eyes, forcing herself to forget about the image she was positive that she had seen. But it had been her imagination, though. There was no other explanation.

Sleep did not greet her that night.

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**Note: **I am SO, SO, SO sorry about the lateness of this update! Please don't hate me! I've just been so damned busy lately. I know that's no excuse, seeing as I've managed to post a few other fics during the long wait, but I swear to you that I didn't mean to keep you guys this long. Plus, I had the worst writer's block over what to write next in this particular fanfiction. 

I had actually intended to take it a different way, but I changed my mind. The thing is now going to be written in short chapters, to go along with the 'ballad' theme. I hope that doesn't disappoint anyone, but it's not going to change.

So, I hope you guys like the new chapter. Please let me know with a review!

For those of you awaiting an update for any of my other fics, please, be patient. I promise to have an update for one of them as soon as I can.


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